Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Latest news/updates

Colby had a scheduled/brief visit to the doctor today. The purpose of the visit was to get the monthly RSV synagis shot (which provides RSV antibodies), and he will receive these shots through March (typically the end of RSV season). As discussed before, RSV stands for respiratory syncytial virus, and that virus is the #1 bug that is responsible for infant's ending up in the hospital. The main issue with RSV is that it produces a very thick mucus in the lungs and respiratory tract (causing bronchiolitis and/or pneumonia, among other ailments).Infants (especially preemies or babies with lung issues), have a difficult time coughing up/excreting this mucus and it can be life threatening in some situations. Colby does not like this shot at all (who would?), but he settles down a minute or two after the injection.

Colebank is now slightly over 10 lb's and the Dr said everything looked great with him. The Dr's and staff refer to him as "Colebank," which sounds really distinguished and "official" to us, but a little funny too, since we usually call him Colby. He had a slight heart murmur at previous check up's, but that seems to have gone away (it was not a serious concern, but it's nice that it is gone). Continued good reports for this kid, a rock star since birth.

Changing babies here. I spoke with Dr. Crombleholme at the Fetal Care Center of Cincinnati yesterday. I had called him to just touch base with him on what his opinion was with Gavin. Dr. C is the head of the Fetal Care Ctr, and was the lead surgeon with our TTTS laser surgery back in May. Since he deals with TTTS cases weekly and is highly respected in this field, I wanted his input. He reviewed our file and I updated him on some of the details of that up and down August week. His opinion, with out much waiver, was that Gavin had an infection and not so much a TTTS structural abnormality. He was perplexed, as the Wake Med Dr's were (and still are), that all of the cultures were negative. We will see what our Wake Med file review of Gavin produces, and will also will be back in contact with Dr C around that time. As mentioned numerous times, we may never know conclusively, but after all we went through, and to get as far along as we got with our twins, we kinda want to know what happened! Whatever it was, it was most likely TTTS related, either directly or indirectly. An infection can happen when prom occurs (premature rupture of the membranes, or water breaking), which was what happened at 29 weeks. The prom is an unwanted complication from the corrective TTTS laser surgery. Research shows that the most common maternal "complication" from the TTTS laser surgery is prom, and one study showed that it happens about 30% of the time.

til' next times

ps: Our dogs are all doing great, and yes, they still get alot of attention from us (and no, they have not been kicked out of the house!)

1 comment:

Blessings to your family.....I am the nurse coordinator for the Fetal Center in Houston at Texas Children's Hospital, we were at UNC until 2006. TTTS is a passion of mine and I read your blog about your pregnancy....it was heart wrenching....Karen